From palace to prison: Brazil’s ex-president Lula in dates

Sao Paulo (AFP) – Brazil’s ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, better known as Lula, was on Sunday serving his first full day behind bars after receiving a 12-year prison sentence for corruption.

The 72-year-old arrived at the jail in the southern city of Curitiba late Saturday after days of political drama that gripped Brazil, becoming the country’s first former leader to end up behind bars.

Here is a list of key dates in the life of one of the world’s most popular politicians.

– October 27, 1945: Lula is born to a poor farming family in Brazil’s northeast. His family moves when he is seven to the state of Sao Paulo to escape hunger.

– 1975: He becomes president of the metal workers’ union, having worked in that sector since the age of 14.

– 1978-80: At the height of the military dictatorship, Lula leads major strikes in the industrial suburbs and is jailed for a month for his role.

– 1980: Lula co-founds the leftist Workers’ Party (PT) and goes on to take part in the creation, in 1983, of the Unified Workers’ Central (CUT), which becomes Brazil’s largest trade union federation.

– 1986: He is elected to Congress.

– First leftist president –

– 2003: Lula becomes Brazil’s first leftist president after winning election in the previous year. He is re-elected in 2006 for a term ending in 2010.

– 2016: The Supreme Court blocks his appointment as chief of staff to President Dilma Rousseff, his handpicked successor. She is then impeached in August after allegations of financial wrongdoing.

– July 2017: Lula is found guilty of receiving a bribe from a Brazilian construction company in return for contracts with state oil giant Petrobras. He is sentenced to nine and a half years behind bars.

– January 2018: He loses an appeal and his sentence is increased to 12 years and one month.

– April 5, 2018: After losing an appeal to delay the start of his sentence, Lula is ordered to turn himself in within 24 hours. He defies the order but later agrees to comply.

– April 7, 2018: Shortly before midnight, Lula becomes an inmate at the federal police headquarters in Curitiba.